Analysis

Pumza FihlaniBBC News, Pretoria

The state has wrapped up its case, but not before a bit of damage control by the defence. Barry Roux read messages exchanged between Reeva Steenkamp and Oscar Pistorius which he says show the couple were in a "loving relationship". The texts included nicknames like "boo, my angel, baba".

But prosecutor Gerrie Nel, whose case is that Mr Pistorius murdered the model in cold blood, pointed out that their messages were mostly one liners - there was "nothing discussing the relationship". He said the only messages where Ms Steenkamp shared her feelings were those showing they were fighting. One read: "I am scared of you sometimes."

The defence has a lot of work ahead. They need to somehow disprove the witnesses who heard a screaming woman, and to salvage their client's image - now also tainted by reports of a temper and reckless use of a firearm.

Defence lawyers say Mr Pistorius will take the stand, but it is not clear when that will be.

The defence is particularly focusing on text messages and calls extracted from the couple's mobile phones by police Capt Francois Moller.

Mr Pistorius previously said he had forgotten the password to his iPhone and investigators went to the US shortly before the trial began to meet Apple officials to try and gain access to it.

'Jealous and possessive'

Mr Roux tried to demonstrate that Mr Pistorius and Ms Steenkamp had arguments but these were soon resolved, the BBC's Pumza Fihlani reports from court in Pretoria.

Many of the text messages exchanged between the couple were affectionate in tone and showed they were in love, the defence argued on Tuesday.

The defence also played CCTV footage, earlier broadcast by Sky News, showing Mr Pistorius and Ms Steenkamp kissing in a shop.

State prosecutor Gerrie Nel later questioned the relevance of the video.

On Monday Capt Moller revealed he had been able to extract some 35,000 pages' worth of messages from Ms Steenkamp's phone.

He said that 90% of the messages between the couple were loving, but he had picked out exceptions.

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